Guidance and Restrictions
by dannyghost
Summary: When Danny is captured into the Fenton Thermos by Maddie, she excitedly decides to take him back to the lab for questioning and dissection. Upon Danny's insistence that he should not be dissected, he strikes up a deal with Maddie– he'll give her a tour of the Ghost Zone providing his knowledge on ghosts in exchange for his freedom. What could go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! I'm back with my first DP fanfiction! I've actually been writing this since July** **– and I'm finally bringing this idea out. Full credits to my sister, who fully laid out this entire fan fiction. The plot and storyline is fully written out so I actually know where I'm going with this one, so hey, let's hope for the best. Please leave reviews on what you thought, I am fully open to constructive criticism and I am always happy to clear up any thoughts you had on this story. :)**

 **Full Synopsis: When Danny is captured into the Fenton Thermos by Maddie, she excitedly decides to take him back to the Fenton Works lab for questioning, interrogation and painful dissection. Upon Danny's panicked insistence that he should not be dissected, he strikes up a deal with the growingly suspicious Maddie– he'll give her a tour of the Ghost Zone providing his knowledge on ghosts in exchange for his freedom. With Jazz's increasingly lame alibis for Danny's sudden disappearance, a tour gone awry, 'Phantom' exhibiting unusually human behavior, ghosts continuously almost blowing Danny's secret and a threatening ghost hunter scientist with an ecto-gun held up to his head, could this be the last straw for Danny's secret?**

 **All rights to Danny Phantom go to creator Butch Hartman.**

* * *

Chapter 1

Most people didn't spend their weekday evenings battling ghosts, keeping a secret identity, living with the fact that they are only _half_ living, and having their own parents hunting them down with every given chance. Then again, most people weren't Danny Fenton, whose life included all of the above. Well, that, and juggling the life of a 'normal' teenage boy with barely passing grades, overbearing ghost hunting parents and an unfortunately poor social status.

At one point, he only had to deal with the half of those things, until the beginning of freshmen year, when he was convinced by Sam Manson to step inside his parents' newly built ghost portal, and accidentally pressed a button that resulted in his untimely death. Well, _half_ death. When he woke up, he became the one thing his parents both hated and unreasonably obsessed over—a ghost. Well, a half ghost. Still half human, at least. He was going to tell them at first, but after one too many unsuccessful attempts and fears of being ripped apart _molecule by molecule,_ he decided it'd be better they not know at all, along with everyone else except Sam and Tucker, who were present during his half death.

When the lab accident occurred, Danny not only had lost his once normal life, but had also activated the passageway from the human world to the Ghost Zone—all by pressing a button. And now that the portal worked, every ghost now had a free pass to the human world whenever the portal doors were open. And out of subconscious guilt, an increasingly growing hero complex, and the need to save Amity Park from any malevolent ghosts, he took it upon himself to protect the town, and in the process becoming Amity's resident ghost fighter.

It didn't take long before Jazz had found out after seeing him transform. She had been overprotective at first, but soon Danny and Jazz came to an understanding when it came to his ghosting hunting job, where he would do his thing, and she'd help out on the sidelines when he needed it, like making up an excuse of why Danny currently wasn't home. Sam and Tucker always helped out too in one way or another when it came to ghost fighting, but this time, they were both absent in the wake of the current ghost. And this unruly ghost had decided to plague Amity Park, just like every other ghost that found ways to escape from the ghost portal and terrorize the town.

This time, Aragon had decided to pester the Amity Park Mall by destroying everything in sight, the only reasonable thing a ghost dragon would do on a Friday evening.

"Seriously, dude? I thought you learned your lesson when Dora dethroned you! Why are you even here?" Danny asked as he threw ectoplasmic blasts from his gloved palms. The ghost dragon roared an ear-splitting cry as he circled in on the ghost boy, knocking down several mall kiosks with the end of his tail. Luckily most of the nearby spectators of the fight had long gone, or there would be even more problems on Danny's hands.

"Coming back to take what is mine!" He growled, breathing out a fiery blast aimed at Danny who quickly became intangible to avoid the fire that went through him, but burned through the food court tables behind him.

"Oh, come on! See, when you do things like that, _I_ get blamed for property damage! What do you even want this time, Aragon? And why did the mall have to suffer?" Danny asked as he floated up to reach the flying dragon's height. Aragon sneered in return.

"I've returned to retrieve my human bride!" He claimed, eyes ablaze.

Danny narrowed his eyes at the black dragon ghost. "Sam? Dude, we've been over this. She doesn't want you! And how did you get your amulet back?"

"No, not that wench!" Aragon spit. "I have come to find a new bride! How I regained my power is not of importance to you, ghost boy, and will not be either when I destroy you once and for all!" He bellowed, and flew fire through the roof of the building before escaping through it, making a large, gaping hole into the ceiling.

"Yep, so getting blamed for this," Danny said to himself, and flew through the hole after Aragon.

"Hey ugly! Are you done?" he taunted, getting the dragon's attention, who huffed angrily as he spotted Danny in the sky next to him.

"You underestimate my power, child, for I am the king, the ruler, the supreme, the most powerful–"

"You might wanna rethink those words, buddy," Danny interrupted, and held his palm back before releasing a powerful ecto-blast in the dragon's direction, catching him off guard and sending him crashing through the same hole he escaped from through the roof of the mall. His heavy form landed with an explosion of gravel, and the mall floors caved in, leaving the black dragon laying in the rubble, seemingly unconscious.

"Wow. Knocked out already?"

Danny flew down to Aragon's level, and glanced at the dragon to inspect him before the ghostly creature suddenly woke up with a start, and bared his teeth. He rose up from the ground, and whacked the ghost boy with his long, spiked tail, sending him flying across the room with a _thud._

Danny grit his teeth and beared the pain; he'd had much worse before. With the amount of times he gets thrown into walls everyday, this should be nothing. Danny clenched his hands into fists and teleported to where the furious dragon stood. He had to distract Aragon somehow _._

"Boo?" Danny tried, and was met with a fiery blast of dragon breath that he avoided just in time by turning intangible. Aragon blew fire in all directions, turning any nearby objects in sight to ashes. Property damage at its finest.

"You dare think you can beat me?! I am unstoppable! No mere simpleton ectoblast can bring such a powerful entity like _me_ down!" He roared.

Danny took this as his chance to act, as the dragon ghost was finally distracted. He turned tangible and once again teleported behind Aragon.

"Oh, but I bet this will!" he yelled, and with all his force, ripped the glowing necklace off him, rendering Aragon powerless without it. Immediately, the ghost dragon reverted back to the form of a person, leaving only an angry, human-shaped ghost in its place.

"I think we're done here," Danny said casually, pulling out the Fenton Thermos from his belt. He left no time for Aragon to respond, and sucked him into the thermos, as he cried out, " _I will return!"_

"Yeah, didn't think so. Wouldn't want this battle to drag - on. Heh," Danny said, and laughed at his own bad pun as he pocketed the necklace to return to Dora later.

"Wow. I really need to get a life." Danny commented as an afterthought. He glanced at the still working clock in the mall center before gasping.

"5 o'clock already?! Man, I should get home before dinner, mom would totally kill me if I wasn't there!" Danny exclaimed, beginning to leave, but froze in place when he spotted someone entered the mall. He gulped, and suddenly forgot that he could easily escape.

"Or, she can kill me now." he added.

* * *

Shortly before, across town, Maddie Fenton walked into the kitchen on-edge from her latest experiment. She was less than ecstatic with the outcome, but at least she was able to recover some data about the integrity of the non-sentient ghost she'd analyzed.

"Are you okay, Mom?" Jazz asked, noting her wide eyes and careful entry into the room.

"Just taking all of the very little that I've learned from this capture." She sighed. Looking around the room she saw her daughter nearing the end of reading her newest psychology book, and her husband tinkering with the Ghost Gabber. "Where's Danny?" She questioned aloud.

"I dunno, but Danny's always getting into trouble nowadays. The way it's been the past few months in school, I wouldn't be surprised if he was in detention again!" Jack spoke up.

"Honey, you're only saying that because we agreed today was the day the garage was gonna be cleaned. He doesn't have to help you when you're the one who keeps building up the piles of junk stored in there!"

Lowering her book, Jazz giggled under her breath as Maddie scolded her husband like a child. She knew from the Phantom-spotting news that her brother was at the Amity Park Mall, but better for her mother to stay out of the loop in case she wanted to pop in and catch him off guard.

"It's not junk! It's valuable equipment that I may or may not use again! It just happens to be a little cluttered… and Danny was supposed to clean it today!" Jack reasons, but Maddie puts her hands on her hips.

"Jack, your things, your responsibility! Danny can help you clean it when he gets home, wherever he happens to be where we don't know." Maddie said, and Jack pouted in response.

"Well when Danny gets home, he's going to help me clean the garage like his life depends on it!" Jack claimed, entire attitude changing, suddenly standing on foot on the table, one foot on the chair heroically.

"That's nice, Jack. Anyways, I'm going to the store to buy some things for dinner, stop by the mall on the way, and such! Buh-bye!" Maddie says, swiping the keys to the GAV from the counter just as Jack begins to wobble off the table and falls down, crashing.

Jazz's smile drops at the mention of the mall but is unfazed by the crash. _Danny!_

"Uhh, mom! Are you sure you don't want me to go and pick up the things you need instead?!" The teen offers eagerly, dropping her book and jumping out of her seat from the table to follow her mom.

"Oh, no, it's okay sweetie, but thank you anyways," Maddie calls, foot already out the door of the kitchen.

"Did you remember to bring an ecto-gun in case of any ghosts, Mads?" Jack asks, dusting himself off from the floor and pretending like he didn't just break the kitchen table. Jazz squeaks.

"Of course! And the Specter Deflector, Fenton Finder and Wrist Ray to be sure!" Maddie responds cheerfully, sticking her head in the door.

"Um… wait! Mom! Could you stop by the library first to get me a new psychology book before youdoanythingelselikegotothemallorsomethingprettypleasewithacherryontop?!" Jazz spluttered as she ran to the door so fast she almost tripped. She gave her best convincing grin, but it came out more unsettling than anything else.

"Oh, sure, Jazz! But the mall is closer to the house anyways, so I'll just stop there first! Bye sweetie! Bye Jack!" Maddie calls as she steps into the driver's side of the GAV, and with a happy smile, speeds off from Fenton Works, into the direction of Amity Park Mall.

Jazz bites her lip. "This can't be good."

* * *

Maddie pulled up to the Amity Park Mall and walked through the front doors of the unusually abandoned building, gasping at what she saw. The mall center was in ruins, with a flurry of broken kiosks, smashed store signs, burnt cafeteria tables and chairs, broken walls, a gaping hole in the ceiling, and floating there, right and center, was _him._

She narrowed her eyes at the culprit.

Amity Park's local menace, the ghost boy. Phantom. There he was, in all his evil glory, just floating around as if he didn't cause this. And it seemed like he was talking to himself. He might have the town fooled to think he was some sort of hero, but Maddie was no fool.

" _You!"_ she accused, whipping out an ecto-gun from her belt.

The ghost boy's expression went from confusion to complete shock. "Mo-Maddie!?" He exclaimed, and then looked at his surroundings, glanced at the property damage, and back at Maddie. "Oh no." He mumbled worriedly.

"You thought you could get away with destroying the mall, didn't you, ghost boy?" she spit, her voice laced with venom. No ghost was getting out this easy after this crime– not if Maddie Fenton had anything to do with it.

"No, no, no, you don't understand!" He yelled as he waved his hands around in front of his face, voice raising. "Th-this wasn't me! I didn't do this! I was trying to stop this!" He tried to explain, but he was talking too fast and Maddie didn't believe his lies for a second.

Maddie pointed her gun at the ghost. "Do you think I'm stupid or something–"

"No, you don't understand! It was Aragon, the ghost dragon! I stopped him, he's in here, see?" he tried, and pointed to the Fenton Thermos in his hand. He seemed to think that this would work, but then a look of horror crossed his face. Maddie fumed.

"You're _stealing_ our equipment?!" she asked in shock and waited no time for a response as she fired a shot at the ghostly menace, which he avoided at the last possible moment.

"NO! I didn't–" he began, but Maddie just kept shooting.

"I didn't steal anything, I was using the thermos to capture the ghost that did this!"

"Tell me one good reason why I should trust you, ghost!"

"I–"

"I don't want to hear a word of your ghostly lies! Save it for the lab, thief!" Maddie yelled as she pulled out a Fenton Thermos of her own, and aimed for Phantom. This took the ghost by surprise and he narrowly tried to avoid the direction of the blast but it was too soon before ungracefully getting sucked into the containment of the thermos.

"Wait, you don't understand!" He screamed as he getting sucked in, and soon was gone in a bright flash.

"I understand completely, that you're an evil ghost bent on destroying Amity Park," Maddie replied, shaking the thermos in her hands, with Phantom inside it. "Well that won't go on for any longer!"

Her expression brightened. "Now, to do those errands for Jazz!"

* * *

Maddie pulled up to Fenton Works in a hurry, taking a glance at the Fenton Thermos. She had finally caught Phantom, after all these months. Should she tell her family? Tell Jack? He would be ecstatic to find that she had finally captured the ghost boy, but Jack tended to get a little… overbearing with new discoveries.

Perhaps she should keep it a secret until she figured out what to do with Phantom. She glanced down beside her in the passenger seat, down to the Fenton Thermos that lay still and untouched. Inside it was the same ghost she had been trying to capture for the longest time. Should she interrogate him first or dissect him then interrogate him?

Gingerly, Maddie parked the car and grabbed the thermos as if it was made of glass, and then grabbed her shopping bags from the trunk. Guilt clouded her thoughts, if what was to come if she didn't tell her husband. This was a breakthrough for them, and they were a team. They did everything together– how would Jack feel if he was left out while Maddie had captured a ghost as important as Phantom?

Maddie took a deep breath, and decided. She would tell her family later. Surely Jazz and Danny wouldn't be too freaked out if they found out that she had captured Phantom.

"Jazz, Jack, I'm home!" she called, opening the front door. Jazz popped out of the kitchen, looking nervous.

"Hey mom! What did you do? What happened at the mall?! Did you get groceries for dinner? Why did you take so long?" She said quickly, firing each question like a bullet. Maddie smiled at her daughter, as she led her back into the kitchen.

"Oh, not much, sweetie. I stopped by the mall, caught something special– I mean, bought some... things, for dinner!" she corrected, but Jazz's concerned face didn't drop.

"...Okay. Where's, um, Danny?"

"You mean he hasn't come home yet? I haven't seen him since this morning before school! And it's almost 6 now!" Maddie exclaimed, setting the groceries on the counter.

Before Jazz could reply, Jack came barging into the room. "Mads! You're back! Great news, I just added the newest addition to the Fenton Ghost Shield! No ghost can ever get through this shield again, thanks to the new Fenton Ecto-Proof Ghostifier!" he announced. Jazz frowned.

"Ecto-Proof Ghostifier… Dad, what does that even mean? Are you sure you don't want to give it a better name than that?"

"Nonsense, Jazzerincess! It's a perfect name, and a perfect invention! Well, after I finish a few more kinks on it. Some kinda hole in the shield… Actually, I'll go back and fix that too!" he said, and began to turn around to go back into the lab, but paused, and looked around the kitchen.

"Hey… where's Dannyboy?"

Maddie crossed her arms. "I don't know, but he's gonna be in a lot of trouble pretty soon."

* * *

 **That's it for the first chapter, please let me know what you thought of it! Sorry if it came to be a little fast paced, I tried my hardest to make it not drag on too long because I tend to do that whoops. Anyways, see you next update, which will come soon! Please leave a review if you liked it! :)**

 **-dannyghost**


	2. Chapter 2

**AHHH. It's been too long. I literally last updated this story in September, and that's sad. I had promised that I would update soon and I just got so sidetracked, and I began to put more focus onto my other story... but I finally wrote out this entire chapter, and it took me exactly 5 hours of writing straight and not leaving my chair. I wanted to apologize for taking this long, and also thank all of my readers and reviewers. You guys are great. Thank you guys so much for all your support, it means so much to me.**

 **I'm so happy that you guys have enjoyed the first chapter, and with that, HERE IS CHAPTER 2! :)**

 **ENJOY (i hope lmao)**

* * *

Chapter 2

Down in the Fenton Works lab, Maddie was practically bouncing with excitement at her new discovery. She had told Jack that they had ran out of fudge to get him out of the way, so he was at the store and wouldn't be back until much later. Truth be told, the fudge had actually run out– but that was only because Jack had eaten it all just after they had bought more.

Soon after discussing Danny's disappearance, Jazz had quickly claimed that she needed to go to the library, and ran out the door… meaning Maddie had the house all to herself– with Phantom, that is. As worryful as Danny not coming home after school was, he probably just was off with Sam and Tucker and had forgot to mention it.

He's done it many times before, so this time shouldn't be any different than the last. Heck, he's gone full days disappearing then come back like nothing had happened. As long as he was back before tomorrow morning, she shouldn't have to worry, Danny was responsible enough.

For now, her work was her current focus– meaning, what to do with Phantom. Her first instinct would have been to strap the ghost down and dissect it as she had done with all the other guppie ghosts she'd caught in the past, until she realized this catch was like winning the lottery.

Unlike the others, this ghost was sentient, and had a more complex thought process, if any. Even if she was able to dissect him, she more or less knew what she would find. Heaps of ectoplasm that took on a state of the beings choice, but never too far from the original form. To understand its thought process would be new territory.

She carefully inserted the thermos into the panel of the large containment chamber in the back of the room. The panel lit up, and the contents were spilled out like smoke into the glass room. Phantom was open mouthed and wide-eyed as he lay on the phase-proof floors of his cell. His expression changed from shock to panic once he seemed to realize where he was, and he sat up straight and faced the ghost hunter through the glass window.

Maddie stared at the criminal ghost. "I take it you recognize this lab, since you've been in and out stealing from it." she warned, and glanced back at her trolley of tools. Painful tools.

"Stealing?" Phantom questioned, now looking more so offended than scared. He was met with a glare as if to read: _Are you dumb?_

"Oh, don't act so surprised, ghost. I know you've been stealing our equipment, I mean I don't suppose you have another Fenton Thermos with you, hm?" she inquired, and this shut the ghost right up. He _has_ been taking their equipment to use on other ghosts, and now here he was, attempting to deny it!

"That's what I thought," Maddie said triumphantly, and her smile faded momentarily, replacing itself with a frown. "Well, I've noticed, but I can't exactly say the same for Jack… The only thing he notices is when the fudge runs out."

"True," Phantom agreed, as if he knew Jack personally. _That ghost scum,_ Maddie glared.

"Shut it, ghost," she ordered, and Phantom gave her an unimpressed glance back towards her.

"So you're not talking to me then?" he asked, obviously pretending to be dumbfounded.

Maddie clenched her fist around the ecto-gun she held in her hand. "I am talking to you. You speak when spoken to, you understand?" she threatened. " _I_ ask the questions and _you_ answer them."

"Woah, woah, wait, backtrack. This is just an interrogation?" Phantom raised an eyebrow. "So... you're not going to dissect my insides and tear me apart molecule by molecule?"

Maddie's expression morphed to irritation. She was beginning to get rather annoyed with the ghost, and although she wasn't planning to 'tear him apart molecule by molecule', she began to have second thoughts. But the interrogation did come first. _Then_ dissection. "Yes," she answered simply, waiting for his reaction.

Phantom's shoulders deflated with relief, and he looked as if he was about to say something before Maddie cut him off. "The dissection comes after the interrogation," she stated, and watched as his cocky expression slowly faded off his face.

Seconds later, the expression was back. "And you expect me to cooperate with you trying to _interrogate_ me? You know that's not going to happen, right?" he asked. Maddie huffed with irritation once more.

"Then I'll guess I'll just have to make you cooperate," she glowered, and turned towards the control panel attached the glass chamber. She pressed a button labeled _ECTO-SEDATIVE_ , and looked up to see a light green smoke engulf the surroundings of Phantom. The smoke reached the glass walls of the cell, until the translucent walls became near opaque.

The ghost began to cough and hack as soon as the airborne sedative reached the enclosure. "Oh man, what _is_ this stuff?!" he yelled, and put a fist up to the glass. He leaned all his weight onto the hand that rested on the confines of his cell, with bewilderment evident on his face.

"Oh, just a little something I whipped up in the lab, composed of some benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotics, anesthetics, anti-ecto-serum, y'know," Maddie said cheerfully, listing off each ingredient.

"Ugh, this is awful!" Phantom exclaimed, as the smoke reached up to his face. "It smells like..." he began, but trailed off lazily off before he could finish, and crumpled into a heap of bodily mass on the ground without another word.

Maddie made a small hum sound as she deactivated the Ecto-Sedative, watching as the ghastly green smoke dissipated into the air. She pressed the _RELEASE_ button on the chamber, stepping back as the glass door slid open, and carefully retrieved the ghost's body from the inside of the cell. Looking down at Phantom, Maddie frowned, thinking to herself. _Why wasn't he light, like other ghosts? He somehow carries the same weight of a human, maybe the weight of a teenager,_ she thought. _Strange._

She hoisted his body onto the examining table, grunting at his surprising weight, and positioned him in accordance to where the restraints would be. The table automatically sensed the pressure of weight, and metal cuffs activated with a short _clang._

"Let's see if you'll cooperate now, ghost." Maddie threatened, then looked up to the ceiling thoughtfully. "Well, when you wake up, of course," she added wistfully, then gasped excitedly. "In the meantime, I can work on my newest invention while Jack's not here!"

* * *

Danny woke up with a jolt, immediately moving to sit upright, but jumped when he realized that he was physically in restraints. "Wha–where am I?" he asked aloud, looking at his surroundings. He couldn't see the entirety of the room due to his current position, but with one glance he knew where he was. "Oh. The lab? Great, at least I'm _safe_ inside my own house," he said sarcastically.

The memories and thoughts from before came flooding back to him. Fighting Aragon. Capturing Aragon in the thermos. Mom arrived. Getting captured in the thermos by mom. The glass cell. The smoke. Waking up here. And the smell of… rotten fruits and wood varnish?

Danny wrinkled his nose, remembering the pungent scent of the sedative.

"I have to get out of here," he muttered, and squirmed against the restraints. What could he do? These restraints were ecto-proof, and what was he going to say to Maddie?

" _Oh, hi mom. Please don't dissect me. I'm actually your son, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't tear me apart molecule by molecule. Also, I kind of have to send this evil dragon ghost back into the Ghost Zone. He also happens to be in this Fenton Thermos that I did not steal. So if you let me go, I'll be on my merry way."_

 _Scrap that,_ Danny thought, and tried to rack his brain for any ideas of escape. He couldn't go intangible, meaning he couldn't phase through, Sam and Tucker were who knows where, Jazz was probably out and it wasn't like he could contact them even if they were around! What was he going to do, sweet talk his way out of this? As if his mom would listen to a ghost, she was more stubborn than he was.

But maybe… maybe he could talk his way out of this mess. Danny was good at talking his way out of certain death, he's done it before. But what exactly would he say? He had to say something that would benefit Maddie so she'd agree, and give him a means of escape. Give her a deal. A truce, or some kind of two way agreement.

 _Okay, think, Fenton. What does mom care about most?_ He thought, and made a face as he tried to figure out the answer. _Her family? Dad? Something else,_ he stressed. "Oh duh," he mumbled.

 _Ghosts._

 _And where are ghosts located_ – _when they aren't wreaking havoc in the city? The Ghost Zone,_ he concluded. It also helped that he actually needed to go to the Ghost Zone to lock Aragon back into the dungeon at Dora's castle, so all the more meaning to that. But what could he do with that?

Suddenly, the perfect idea came to mind. He could–

"Oh, good, you're awake!" Maddie's voice rang through the air cheerily, as she swiped the ecto-gun off the desk and sat up from her seat in the corner of the lab.

"Awake after you put me to sleep and strapped me to a table," Danny retorted, seeing his own mother come into his peripheral view. As Fenton, he would never usually speak back like this to his mom, but considering his current circumstances, he had a bit of a right to.

"It was necessary for the procedure," she responded with a straight face, losing her earlier cheery attitude from moments before.

"Uhm, yeah… About that," Danny coughed awkwardly, debating on how to come across this.

"Yes?" Maddie prompted, looming over Danny. He swallowed nervously, and clenched his fists before he spoke, bracing himself for some kind of impact.

"Okay, I know you're a ghost hunter scientist bent on destroying me and all and tearing ghosts apart molecule by molecule happens to be your hobby," he began, watching Maddie's face for her reaction.

"Actually, that's more of Jack's thing, I like to look at the science behind ghost DNA and what it's composed of, which is why I'm going to dissect you," she claimed casually, picking up a scalpel off the cart of surgical tools and torture devices.

"Wait, before you do that, hear me out!" Danny begged, inching away as far as the restraints allowed him to from the tool in his mom's hand.

Maddie stared at the ghost in restraints, and then took a breath, seeming to let what little sympathy she had for him get the best of her. She set down the scalpel, with intent to pick it up again later. "Fine," she said harshly.

Danny breathed a sigh of relief. "...Anyway, my point is, I've done some thinking and mainly because I _really_ don't want to be your latest experiment, I want to make a deal." he sputtered out, slowing down at his last statement.

The ghost hunter narrowed her eyes, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "What kind of deal?" she asked suspiciously. "Don't forget that I can end you in a second."

"Oh, I'm much aware of that, trust me." Danny thought aloud to himself. This deal was a long shot, but he was willing to take the chance. "Okay, how about this. I'll give you a full tour of the Ghost Zone, showing you everything there is to ghosts, and give you all my knowledge on everything ghosts," he offered.

Maddie pursed her lips thoughtfully. "The Ghost Zone…" she said slowly, and Danny nodded his head quickly for confirmation. "What makes you think I would want to see the _Ghost Zone_?" she asked.

Danny stared. "Have you ever _been_ in the Ghost Zone?"

"Well…" Maddie began. "No."

"So," Danny prompted, waiting for an answer.

"Well, I do want to extend my research on ghosts…" she reasoned. "In exchange for what?" she asked, now seeming to sound genuinely interested.

"My freedom. I show you the Ghost Zone, you set me free from… this…" he said said slowly, glancing at his restraints. "They're getting really uncomfortable," he added as an afterthought. "You can hold me captive or whatever during, I promise. Then after, I'll never bother you again. My word," he said nervously.

Maddie took off her goggles to look face to face with the ghost in front of her. Danny frowned, as his mom oddly seemed to stare into his soul. It was unnerving, and the lab was dead silent for several seconds.

"Okay." she said, after what felt like a decade. Danny let out a breath of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. "But try something and you'll regret it. I'm watching you," she said dangerously, but her threats didn't faze Danny in the slightest.

He blinked. "Wait, really?" he asked in surprise.

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Yes," she clarified.

"Seriously?" he asked again.

"Yes?" she repeated, now sounding uncertain herself.

"Yes!" Danny hollered. _I can't believe that worked!_

Maddie's uncertainty morphed back to seriousness. "Don't push your luck, ghost," she reminded, as she pulled the switch to activate the release of the restraints.

Danny sat up immediately, rubbing his wrists, and got off the table, opting to stand directly in front of the ghost hunter, or, his mother. She pulled something out of her toolbelt, and Danny furrowed his eyebrows in confusion to see what it was, before she suddenly grabbed his wrists and clasped handcuffs on each hand. Granted, they were loose, giving him a fair amount of space to move his arms, but he was still in handcuffs.

"That's to ensure no funny business," she reprimanded.

"Yes, mam."

Just then, the door slamming was heard from upstairs in the house, following by the sound of a certain voice that both Danny and Maddie recognized immediately. "Honey, I'm home! And I bought seventeen packages worth of fudge! They weren't on sale or anything but I bought them anyway!"

As Maddie and Danny both looked up towards the stairs, they both realized that Jack had no idea of what had been going down in the lab, and happened to simultaneously have the same thought:

"Jack!"

"Dad!"

"What?" Maddie frowned.

"...Nothing?" Danny replied unsurely, trying to cover his mistake.

"Are you sure?" she asked, knowing that he had indeed said something.

"Positive." he clarified, and cleared his throat.

Maddie looked at him with distrust for a moment before heading towards the bottom of the staircase. She considered going upstairs to greet Jack, but knew that would surely make an easy way of escape for the ghost.

She turned around to look at Danny, before looking back to the stairs. "Jack, honey, I'm just downstairs in the lab! I ordered pizza for dinner, it should be here soon!" she called, and it made Danny wonder how she could go from sweet mom to demented ghost hunter so quickly.

"Yes! I'll wait up here for the pizza to come!" he called back excitedly.

"Okay sweetie!" she replied, and turned back to Danny with a straight face. "...Should Jack come?" she wondered, although by the way she said it, it was more as if she was asking herself this question.

Danny made a face. "Well, first of all, I don't think ghosts aren't gonna like humans in their 'zone' very much," _Or half-humans,_ he thought. "I mean, we can get around if we don't disrupt the peace of the ghosts in their natural habitat or whatever, but he's not exactly _quiet_ …"

Maddie sighed. "Fine."

The sound of the door opening and closing made them both look towards the staircase again, and with the sound of Jazz's voice being heard from upstairs, Maddie assumed that she had returned from the library.

"Okay, but to take precautions, I'm telling them about this whole exchange," she stated.

"Go ahead," Danny prompted. He needed Jazz to know where he was, so he had an alibi for where _Fenton_ was exactly, because according to his parents, they haven't seen him since this morning. And if they thought he was missing, it wouldn't end well.

"Great, I'll tell them at dinner during our family meeting," Maddie said, and Danny was about to reply before they heard the slam of the front door for the third time.

"MADDIE, COME QUICK, THE PIZZA IS HERE!" Jack yelled from upstairs, and a muffled crashing noise was heard shortly after, followed by a shriek from Jazz in surprise. Maddie and Danny stared up in the direction of the staircase. "I'm okay!" Jack yelled again from upstairs.

The two glanced at each other, sharing a mirrored expression of confusion and an unspoken agreement.

"Well, on the bright side, this is still _not_ the weirdest day I've ever had," Danny mused.

* * *

 **UNTIL NEXT TIME, WHICH HOPEFULLY WON'T BE ANOTHER 3 MONTHS :))))**

 **reallllllly hope this chapter didn't turn out like a joke although it probs did ahahaha**


End file.
